HR Additional Fauna and Flora for Pern
by slytherinsal
Summary: An essay covering more ecological niches than we find in canon and the lifeforms I use in some of my stories. To be expanded to cover flora as well. I do not own Pern but these are my own work; please contact me if you intend to use any and credit me.
1. Chapter 1

**Additional Fauna Pern**

_The well known creatures and plants of Pern – Dragonkin, imported earth animals, wherries, a few fish, spiderclaws, tunnel snakes, grubs, trundlebugs and veetols do not cover all the niches of animal life; any more than do Fellis, needlethorn, klah, bamboo grasses, Dragon's Tongue, sky-broom, sticklebush._

_Since the imported animals will not in any wise be sufficient for the many 'sleeping furs' that are mentioned in cannon it is reasonable to suppose that there are life forms with a fur analogue. Most Pernese animals will go to ground in burrows or caves during Threadfall; water dwelling or loving species may have one of two adaptations; either large well formed lungs to permit holding breath for the ten minutes or so that Thread typically forms or a horny plate covering the head with nostrils set in it, that exudes some form of Fungicidal or acidic mucus which may either fill the nostril on the touch of thread, or the animal has some mechanism to sense the organism and close down nostrils. the bony plates on top of the head is coated with silicon extruded from the bone made from the sand ingested often alongside bottom dwelling crustacea etc or plants._

_These animals and plants are my take on the odd life forms of Pern which may or may not serve any useful purpose; I am happy to make them available to any writer who wishes to use them but I should be pleased to have notification first and a brief note of credit. Thank you._

* is a creature or plant from canon

**Fauna.**

**Notes on quasi-mammalian species**

In the female, food is partially digested in a first stomach. When there are young, an orifice on the chest opens through which this stomach partially protrudes. It has a semi-permeable membrane and the young can suck semi-digested 'soup' through it. When there are no young this orifice remains tightly closed; the hormones of birth cause the release of an enzyme that relaxes the muscle to hold it tight.

**Notes on locomotion**

The usual form of limb arrangement seems to be a tridactyl limb with bilateral symmetry and six limbs [three pairs]. In some cases one of these pairs is adapted for flying.

**Notes on nomenclature.**

Settlers name things according to similarities such creatures bear to familiar creatures; often they have a warped sense of humour.

**Predators**

Striders

Large clumsy-looking avians whose rear pair of limbs are elongated to allow them to wade in shallow water to hunt fish, amphibians and insects. Unlike storks or herons they do not need an elongated beak-analogue as the forward pair of limbs is used to grab prey. They are adapted to correct for parallax and are poorly sighted if not looking into water; and may have difficulty grabbing prey like marshwiggles [see] when the little creatures are above the water surface. They suffer greatly from the predations of suckers [see]. They have a horny structure on top of the head which covers head and beak-like mouthparts; there are airholes in this. During Threadfall the creature sinks right down in the water with only this plate above; their ability to smell or otherwise sense Thread right above them is extraordinary and the nostrils close and lock if a Thread is headed for them. The bony plate exudes an acidic mucus during Threadfall that dissolves Thread. The bony plate on top of its head is coated with silicon extruded from the bone made from the sand it shovelled into its bill with the small fish and crustacea snatched from the bottom that formed its staple diet.

Logger

Six limbed and furred; the fur is waterproof. Loggers have a horny plate much like Striders [see] that protect them from Thread [see also initial notes]; which horny plates also are adapted at the upper jaw to gnaw at and fell small trees in a way analogous to beavers; like beavers they also build lodges, plastered in mud, as shelters from Thread – a preferred shelter to using their personal defences – and to over winter. They also male crude rafts by intertwining branches and in pools created by dams they lie on these watching for fish, ready to dive down after them. Their mid pair of limbs are more wing like than leg like, something like the flippers of penguins, and are used to help them swim with great speed and grace. They have webbed feet, the hindermost of which have a hook-like claw that engages one foot with another when swimming to form something akin to a streamlined tail kicking with a 'dolphin kick'.

Wherryhawk

Avian about the size of a firelizard* but with down. Before firelizards were rediscovered these were semi-domesticated and used to assist hunting after the manner of Earth's hawks and falcons. As pets and working animals they declined in popularity as firelizards became more freely available but some Holders feel that their use in the hunt is a sign of distinction. Wild ones tend to occupy the ecological niche in the colder climes that is occupied by firelizards in more southerly zones. They take smaller avians and rodies and coneys as their prey.

**Omnivores**

Wherry-Kite

Related to the wherry*. However these avians are adapted to a purely scavenger role. They are more common in the south than the north; and they are notable for having no proto-feathers on the head or neck to facilitate reaching inside carcasses. This is the main feature that distinguishes them from wherries.

Grizzly

Average about 300-400lb; six legged, live mostly on berries and fruit but are not averse to grubs or insects or scavenged meat. Will rarely hunt, in times of poor harvest. Confined to northernmost latitudes and one of the sources of furs. The High Reaches Grizzly is the largest of the subspecies, and the darkest in colour, having black analogue fur, thick and soft and warm and prized for bedding. Travelling east the fur becomes lighter in shade and the animal lighter in weight down to the Benden Grizzly which has reddish fur and weighs in at only 250 lb. The forwardmost pair of limbs are noticeably smaller than the hindermost two pairs but are more mobile with adapted protofingers for pulling down branches or prizing grubs and insects from behind bark. They may rise onto the hindermost pair of limbs which are massively muscular to reach up into the branches to a height of up to ten feet for the larger specimens. They are cave dwellers.

**Herbivores**

Coney

Named for being an analogue to the Terran rabbit; a small herbivore, about 6-8lb. The hindermost pair of the three pairs of limbs are noticeably heavier. The escape strategy is to bound high in the air and land at a distance before bunny-hopping off. They live in burrows and in the most northerly climes will hibernate. They make good pets and may be farmed for both meat and fur. The forward pair of limbs are used to hold fruits or stems of vegetation to nibble and are similar to a terrestrial squirrels in adaptation.

Gontermorra

A larger cousin of the coney weighing in at up to 10lb. also herbivorous; the main difference apart from the size is that the middle pair of legs is almost as strong as the rear as the creature runs rather than hopping. The forward limbs have the same adaptations as its relative. This larger creature does not hibernate and displays seasonal protective colour change to its coat from mottled browns and blacks most of the year to mottled white and black in winter; the winter coat is especially prized. The taste is gamier than that of the coney and the species cannot be as readily tamed. It was named in a moment of levity for its turn of speed 'here today, gone tomorrow'. Also a burrow dweller.

Springer

About the size of a Terran goat and occupying a similar ecological niche. This is a mountain dwelling creature of extreme agility. The tridactyl feet are fused more or less into one hoof-like structure. A defence mechanism is to spring several times with great force off all six feet at once. The adaptation that has permitted this means that the sinews of the ankles make extremely strong ropes, pliable but strong. The fur, especially the winter coat [which may change colour with terrain and temperature] is dense and warm and may also be spun by an expert; but the meat is coarse and tough and tastes unpleasant to Terran bred palates. Wherries* like them just fine however. They are cave dwellers.

Drifter

Six limbed as usual and furred, with hairless skin between the limbs; they are something of an analogue of flying squirrels, gliding from branch to branch, tree to tree in search of juicy nuts. They live predominantly in Skybroom*; they hide from thread under the canopy usually in hollowed out dens in the trunk.

Panzer

A very successful herbivore; hairless, some species, like some tunnel snakes*, may have scales. The species of these range from around the mass of a tunnel snake – only shorter and fatter – to the size of a small sheep. Heavy armour plate guards them from attack from above and from being crushed in the wrapping of a tunnel snake*. In extremes they can curl up; and tend to do so during Threadfall, usually in burrows. Mostly found in southern climes. The desert panzer of Keroon, weighing in at about a stone weight on average, has adapted to use its plates to condense and channel water at night into a gland which releases it on need. The plates also extend over to the upper jaw and strip spiny or tough barked desert vegetation of the outer layer before it is bitten on.

Manyana

A tree dweller about three feet long. They have clawed feet for climbing and for hooking firmly onto a branch whilst adapted mouth parts drill through the bark to feed on sap. Manyanas will also eat fruit so long as it does not take too much effort to collect it. They seem immune to bites of insects also attracted to the sap and will absently eat them too, though they cannot be counted as a true omnivore since the devouring of insects along with the sap is incidental and insects are not deliberately sought as a food source. Manyanas have the marabou-like covering similar to wherries rather than a furrier version; this is in olive greens and browns for camouflage whilst nestling on mossy bark. They used camouflage by preference as they are not adapted to go anywhere fast.

Crested Grockels 

These six limbed beasties, about the size of marmots, also have a bony plate in the place of incisors, used to chew on roots, tubers and small saplings. Considered a real pest in maple groves. Colony-dwelling, those on watch raise and lower their colourful back crests of marabou-like fur-feather as an addition to chittering cries to indicate enemies.

**Small Avians**

Weesweet

A tiny [½ - 2oz dependant on species] avian with similar protodown to the wherry; the smallest lives predominantly on nectar. Other species which do not despise nectar either are adapted to supplement their diet with fruit eating and insect eating.

Although very capable in flight, these tiny creatures tend to scramble about on the high alpine pastures, much like the Terran wren. The name comes from the constant calls the creatures make; some of these passeriforms are accentors worthy of note, notably Harper's weesweet which has a long trilling warble as part of its song and is one of the larger species.

Commonly several of the same species of weesweet will form a colony, several of whom will hover communicating to the rest by their calls, on the watch for predators, be the threat avian or from tunnel snakes* creeping up near the ground crawling members of the colony. In winter the whole colony will hibernate clustered together for warmth, the outer layer actually frozen externally as they mass in caves.

A southern variety is solitary and hovers to gather nectar from inside flowers higher up than ground hugging plants, being a humming bird analogue. Weesweets perform some of the pollination functions that bees perform on Terra.

Eeseyem

Avian, about 2oz; insect eater. Not related to the insectivorous weesweets; this is a crepuscular creature, hunting by sonar as do Terran bats. The two major species are the nocturnal eeseyem and the diurnal eeseyem. Both species are most commonly seen at dawn and dusk but favour one part of the day or the other for supplementary insect hunting. Prefer to hunt high in the atmosphere.

Flycatcher

Fills a similar ecological niche to the eeseyem but hunts by sight and is purely diernal. Hunt generally low, skimming plants to find lurking flies.

**Small critters, pests and bugs**

Panzerbugs

Found in the southern part of the Northern Continent, these millipede-cum-woodlouse analogues feed on the flesh of the needlethorn*. Their multi-legged bodies are protected by a thick chitinous shell that is proof against the spines of the predatory plant. Panzerbugs are only vulnerable if flipped onto their backs. Though they can roll up like woodlice, firelizards etc could unroll them; but soon learn not to do so as Panzerbugs store the spring and summer venom of the Needlethorn within them and converting it to an ingested poison; being at best unpleasant eating and at worst deadly.

Marshwiggles

A settler had obviously read C.S. Lewis; these are similar in appearance to crawlers[sometimes crawlie]* being amphibians; they live in marshes and feed predominantly on the pith of various reeds and grasses. Certain kinds may grow to a foot long; most are no larger than a few inches. Generally however if a Wiggle can eat a certain type of pith, it is also safe for humans. They are not good eating.

Suckers

An analogue to leeches; look like pink or red worms; the blood of the introduced Terran animals and humans seems quite as attractive to them as native species. The good news is that they do not carry parasites inimical to Terran life. The bad news is that they lay eggs through their mouthparts and may do this near the hoof of an animal for preference or the nail-bed of a barefoot human, which unless cut out will hatch into tiny suckers wriggling under the skin and feeding off their host until large enough to chew their way out and drop off in some body of water. Parthenogenic.

Rodies

An indeterminate number of species of small six limbed burrow dwelling and scuttling beasts, furred, that may prey on insects or live on seeds and nuts or both. A favourite food of tunnel snakes*. These fulfil the various niches that on Terra are occupied by small rodents such as mice, dormice, shrews, voles, hamsters and so on with as much variation. Few people care enough to classify them as anything but rodies [after all, how many people on earth in the 21st Century, confronted by a brown or grey furry thing about three inches long will call it anything but 'mouse'?]

There may be tree rodies, cave rodies, hold rodies [a recent adaptation], sand rodies and so on; but that's about the most complex classification any Pernese cares to give.

The mud rodie is a water-dwelling quasi-mammal which feeds on mud dwelling crustacean.


	2. Chapter 2

**FLORA OF PERN**

_**These are not in any particular order. You will notice that several have adaptive sepals; I grow fuchsias and the way the sepals are adapted to be coloured and a part of the flower has always fascinated me. I've tried to stick to botanical terms; some people may be more familiar with the term pentameric or pentaradial than pentagonal; I'm sticking to my schooldays botany.**_

Threadbane

A rare plant found in high alpine regions only.

This plant has quite tough serrated sage-green leaves and has a bright blue five petalled flower about an inch across resembling in its petal shapes the early pink or gillyflower of earth. The main distinguishing feature of this plant is the modified sepals under the flower which remain on the seed head as it swells. These sepals are in form spines, symmetrically brachiate in form. They are hollow and inject a stinging acid into the mouth of any animal that tries to eat it; which acid is stored in a spherical chamber immediately below the sepals. During Threadfall the spines move to point skyward covering the flower or seedhead; the acid also contains an enzyme inimical to Thread. Alpine herders milk the plant by thrusting the spines through a thin hide covering on a container and keep some by them; it may cause nasty blisters but will kill any Thread if they get caught out during Fall.

When the seeds form the stigma swells to a cone shaped seed pod with pentagonal symmetry, the spherical acid chamber below it and the spines set radially around them. This is a very delicate and pretty thing and may be collected by women who snip the points carefully off the spines and permit the acid to drain by hanging them upside-down to use in dried flower arrangements.

The old seedheads, having dispersed the seeds, is found to be of use to small boys since when the acid has dispersed the ends of the thorns with a bit of stem attached make excellent fish hooks.

The upper cone of the fruiting body peels back when ripe, revealing seeds on a spike with downy attachments; the seeds are dispersed by wind; at this time the poison is also dispersing sufficiently that the spherical bladder has started to shrivel.

Cattlebane

A larger relative of Threadbane, which similarly protects itself against being eaten but does not appear to have developed the useful enzyme of its relative. Cattlebane has slightly smaller flowers than Threadbane, but larger leaves which have spiny ends on the serrations.

Both Threadbane and Cattlebane my be found depicted as decorative motifs.

Boxflower

This low growing flower has its own protection against Thread; its specialised sepals that grow in pentagonal symmetry close over the flowering body like a box. The waxy secretions from their under surface repel Thread much like skybroom* resin.

The leaves are small and unremarkable and waxy as some protection against Thread. Many insects will seek shelter inside the 'box'.

The flower, which is half an inch across may be various shades of pink; the sepals are a dark blueish green and are one and a half to two inches long. The foliage, which is not unlike Terran rosemary in structure, is a lighter green than the sepals. This is an alpine plant primarily but will grow successfully at lower altitudes. It is decorative enough to be grown as a garden flower, the more because it can protect itself from Thread and therefore does not constitute a risk.

Creeping Stranglebug

Cotholders and particularly famrcrafters destroy this wherever they find it; it is a carnivorous plant that preys on trundlebugs* in two different ways and is a menace to these harmless and necessary pollinators.

It resembles Terran bindweed superficially with large bell-like flowers some three and a quarter inches in diameter; the leaves are sagitate in form much smaller than the flower. It also has tendrils at intervals on the rambling stem and three tendrils set below the flower head. The flower has trilateral symmetry too with three overlapping petals in white with a greenish-yellow base.

These flowers exude a scent that is irresistible to trundlebugs*; and though most feed on the nectar and leave – they act as pollinators for this plant too – one in four is wrapped in clinging tendrils and consumed.

Worse for the bugs, when the flower is ready to die and go to seed, the flower closes around the unfortunate bug feeding it on nectar but injecting it with the seed. The bug trundles off and next spring the seed within it germinates and grows, feeding on the dying bug and having travelled to a new location. This is a successful and widespread meadow weed.

Cloud and Sunshine Flower

This tiny bright orange eight-petalled flower – it is just half an inch across – closes to indicate the imminence of bad weather much after the fashion of Terra's scarlet pimpernel. The leaves are tiny and set in a glide symmetry. The seed heads resemble the Terran dandelion clock and children on Pern love to blow them in the same way, counting time or used for various childish divination games. This is a high altitude plant in the main and rare, though not unknown, in Igen and Ista.

Cup-and-Saucer Flower

The name derives from the deep pink cup-shaped bloom and its white, waxy protective sepals that overlap and fold up to enclose the flower during Threadfall. The leaves are large and serrated and set in a glide symmetry up the stem; they are light green. The leaf is rounder in shape than is common on Pern but is waxy and Thread resistant. The wild flower has a flower of half an inch and sepals twice that.

During various intervals cultivars of these were made by selective breeding of sports; which means that by Ninth Pass there are Cup-and-saucer flowers around Holds in a variety of colours, and fanciers may hold shows. It is the Pernese equivalent of a combination of pelargonium [geranium] and fuchsia.

Bred Varieties of the Cup-and-Saucer Flower

The leaves are even more rounded in cultivars, approaching the shape of a Terran pelargonium.

The flowers of domesticated cultivars are about twice the size of the wild variety and may come in the following combinations:

Purple flower, white sepals

Pink flower, pink flushed sepals

Pink flower, green sepals

Purple flower, pink flushed sepals

Pink flower, pink sepals, pink edged leaves

Pink flower, white sepals, white-and-green variegated leaves

Pink flower, white sepals, white, green and pink variegated leaves.

Wherryflower

The leaves set almost symmetrically up the stem are aristate and covered with fine hairs that are similar in structure to the fine hairs that also surround the bloom; the hairs about the bloom are specialised sepals. During Threadfall the flower head droops, hiding the flower under the hairs that exude waxes to resist Thread. The thread resemble wherry* down superficially and the name becomes more obvious when the seedhead forms with a 'beak' not unlike the cranesbill and storksbill plants of Terra.

Wherryflowers have a blossom about one and a half inches across ranging in colour from white through blues to purple and may, on limey soils, be almost pink. Three to seven flowers spring from one base, generally the higher number of flowers in lower latitudes; where the size also increases. Wherryflowers may be found in gardens as decorative plants.

_**A/N I started this project primarily when I was writing about the Weavercraft and looking for more visual themes than dragons* and fellis*, Celtic knotwork and paisley. I have pages of fabric designs using these flowers; from logical design of adaptive features grew quite a lot of motifs. The use of the flowers and of weesweets and coneys in fabric design was great fun especially bearing in mind the famous brocades of Fort Hold. **_


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